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Thursday, August 10, 2006

Mantra "Sahanavavatu" -part 4-

Tejaswi Naava dheeta Visvishavahai

The sun has trillions of calories of energy. If the sun is not radiating that energy, what is the use of the sun? The sun’s usefulness does not lie in having the energy, but in radiating the energy as to energize others. Similarly, my energy should be able to make others energetic. I should be able to help others, so my energy should manifest outside, and that manifestation is called radiation.

For example, suppose I have a lot of energy and I can run extremely fast. If I am walking down a quiet road and hear a girl helplessly cry because she is in trouble and run the other way with all of my energy. What is the use of this energy? I should go and help the girl.

True energy in our hands is that energy which does not harm others, which does not become our ego but helps others. That is the idea of radiation. In that way, let this knowledge become strength and let this strength come out to help others.

With this energy and kindness we bestow on others, we begin to obtain compliments from others. These compliments start becoming my ego. The moment that I become egoistic and arrogant, I begin to develop hatred. In fact, one of the root causes for hatred is ego of knowledge. As we get more and more of an ego, we begin wanting others to sub-serve us. When people do not do as expected of them, we begin to dislike them, either because their knowledge is different from ours or they possess more knowledge than us.

Hence, we cannot let our knowledge become ego. How can we say that any knowledge belongs to us? We are not the creators or the inventors of this knowledge. Knowledge is passed on and on; it does not belong to anyone. Someone has given us knowledge and we pass it on. Hence, we have no reason to become egoistic of the knowledge. It is similar to being a tea pot. We put in the tea leaves, the hot water, and the spices. When we pour, tea pours out of the teapot. How ignorant is it if the teapot thinks that it is giving the tea? It is the same of knowledge. Someone else has given us the knowledge and we are like a tea pot. There are many kinds of ego; money, beauty, etc. However, of all the egos, the most difficult to overcome is the ego of knowledge. Within the various types of knowledge ego, the most difficult thing to come out is the ego of the knowledge of philosophy, yoga, and spirituality is the most difficult ego to come out of. Hence, we must be very careful with this type of ego.

We previously discussed the story of Drona replying to his son, Aswatthama, when the son asked Drona, ‘Why are you not teaching me the special knowledge which you are teaching Arjuna?’ Drona questions him, ‘Are you asking this question as my son or as my student?’ Aswatthama wonders, ‘What is the difference?’ Drona replies, ‘My dear child, it makes much difference. The conversation between a father and a son is very different from that of a student and teacher. Their relationships are completely different.’ Although Aswatthama realizes that, he still has his doubt and says, ‘I am both, your student and your son. I suppose I can ask in any way. Suppose I am asking as your son. As a son, I have the right to your possessions, correct? Don’t you think you should give me the knowledge before you give it to others? Do you not love me?’ Drona replies with tears in his eyes, ‘My dear child, I love you immensely, and there is nothing on this Earth that I am in love with as much as I love you. The moment I hear you are not there, my breath will come to a halt at once. But you should understand that you have the right to all my riches in this world except my knowledge. It is so, because this knowledge does not belong to me. On the other hand, I belong to the knowledge. Therefore, I cannot give this knowledge to anybody because of my relationship to them; I must give it to the deserving student.’ From this conversation, it is clear that we belong to the knowledge and knowledge does not belong to us. Hence, we must be humble to the knowledge.

There is a great teacher of philosophy in India who was a teacher of Vivekananda. His name is Ramakrishna. Each word he spoke was an extraordinary piece of wisdom. Every lecture he gave was compiled into a book called ‘Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.’ Gospel means ‘god’s words spoken from direct experience.’ Each word in that Gospel is amazing knowledge. Even with all that knowledge, he is humble. He ends the book by saying ‘as long as I live, so long I learn.’ Meaning that even with all the knowledge he possesses, he still has much to learn. Hence, it is important to become yoga students without ego. Once you do not have an ego and consciously let it go, then you will see the whole journey is one of peace.

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